Merit scholar students more than academics

A devout fan of robotic combat television shows, Chan said she hoped the club would allow her to create her own mechanical warrior. Though she was initially underwhelmed to find the club primarily built robots designed to stack boxes, she discovered an appreciation for the collaborative spirit among club members.

“It was a lot of fun. I really like it. Being part of a team is what I liked the most,” said Chan, now the team captain.

The senior’s leadership and team-building skills are among the attributes recognized by school officials when making the case for Chan to receive the prestigious National Merit Scholarship honor.

“She has always kind of really had this gift around her intelligence. She has been able to combine that with an initiative to do good and amazing things for her community,” said Mills High School Principal Pamela Duszynski.

For her part, Chan, who was the first female member of the robotics club her freshman year, said she appreciated receiving acknowledgment as semi-finalist for the national academic award.

“I’m surprised. I didn’t know that this honor existed, so it’s sort of cool,” said Chan.

She joins Aragon High School’s Arthur Cai, Avichal Goel, Diana Gong, Frank Liu, Eric Shen, Meilling Thompson, Michael Wang, Chris Xiong and Lily Zhou; Capuchino High School’s Julia Cordero and Niven Jayanthi; Hillsdale High School’s Jamie Ip and Benjamin Liao; Mill High School’s Jasmine Carson, Carson Eschen, Sarah Huang, Hongxiao Zhou and Eric Zhu; and San Mateo High School’s Vidaat Dunna, Shannon Lu, Lily Sai, Emily Sun and Charles Xiao as San Mateo Union High School District students also nominated.

They join the nearly 16,000 national semifinalists vying to become the roughly 7,500 high schoolers who stand to win a share of $32 million in scholarship money. Winners will be announced in April.

Liao too expressed gratitude for receiving such recognition.

“I think the only word I would be able to describe it as is honored. Obviously I’ve put in a lot of work and it is nice to be recognized for that work,” said Liao.

Similar to Chan, Liao is a member of his school’s robotics club and uses the organization to drive his passion for engineering, which he ultimately intends to pursue as a career.

Always a fan of understanding the way things worked, Liao said he believes engineering exists in the crosshairs of his passion as well as a desire to resolve some of the planet’s larger looming issues, such as global warming.

“I like looking at problems and finding ways to solve them,” he said.

Considering the creativity required to build the senior’s hectic schedule, Hillsdale High School Principal Jeff Gilbert said he believes Liao has the requisite abilities to accomplish his goals.

“He is very humble in the work he does. He’s well respected by the staff and students. I just step back and marvel at his ability to manage all of it and still be a student,” Gilbert said.

Beyond his work as an accomplished student and robotics club member, Liao is also a tennis player, a musician, editor of his school paper, tutor and part-time computer coder when he has a free moment.

Gilbert said even if Liao doesn’t win the national merit scholarship, he deserves an award for time management.

“It just feels like Ben does a million things and does them well and still has time to chat,” said Gilbert.

For his part, Liao said his schedule is simply a function of doing what’s necessary to pack all he enjoys into a limited amount of time in a day.

“My whole life I’ve been like that,” he said. “I think I’ve gotten better at creating my own schedule for myself.”

Self improvement is a consistent them for Liao, who acknowledged his writing skills needed improvement so he joined the school paper.

Chan too is the editor of the Mills publication, and said she finds similar joy in running a newsroom as she does organizing the robotics club.

Similar to robotics, Chan said she has seen participation grow at the paper since her tenure began, further fueling her interest in collaboration and leadership.

Despite her integral role in helping build participation through her various fields of interest, Chan is quick to share her recognition with fellow club members.

“Part of leadership is giving a team purpose and direction, but ultimately it’s the members who make it happen, so I’m really grateful for that too,” she said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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